


Dead Men Have No Rules

by Boxeption



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Not Really Character Death, There's A Tag For That
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 11:33:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11103717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxeption/pseuds/Boxeption
Summary: About a week ago, I noticed that today was exactly six months when I posted Trust, my very first fic,you should totally go read it and warm my cold dead heartand I thought that it would be the perfect date to postthis,which is, in a sense, a throwback to the concept I hashed out then.EDIT: I COMPLETELY FORGOT! This was written for Wedomorrison's birthday- you should absolutely check out her writing! I've gotten a lot of comments about how I write Gabriel in particular and most of my characterization was inspired by her, (with slightly less disturbing body horror, though, be warned.)





	Dead Men Have No Rules

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WedoMorrison (metalwurm)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/metalwurm/gifts).



> About a week ago, I noticed that today was exactly six months when I posted Trust, my very first fic, ~~you should totally go read it and warm my cold dead heart~~ and I thought that it would be the perfect date to post _this,_ which is, in a sense, a throwback to the concept I hashed out then.
> 
> EDIT: I COMPLETELY FORGOT! This was written for Wedomorrison's birthday- you should absolutely check out her writing! I've gotten a lot of comments about how I write Gabriel in particular and most of my characterization was inspired by her, (with slightly less disturbing body horror, though, be warned.)

Jack was roused by pressure against his chest, nanites whispering across his skin. He cracked open an eye blearily to see Gabriel hovering over him worriedly, checking the bandages wrapped around him.

“I’m surprised you aren’t on top of me.” God, his voice was wrecked. Just how long had he been out? Come to think of it, why was he here in the first place? All Jack remembered was flashes of smoke, a deadly rumbling noise, and he shuddered at the memory of Zurich. Gabriel noted his reaction and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Angela threw a fit about me staying in bed with you. It’s been a  _ week _ , and she only let me see you yesterday!” Jack nodded through his ranting. A week, huh.

“-was  _ Faheera  _ she’d never leave the-”

“What happened.”

Gabriel froze mid-sentence, staring at him. “You don’t remember?” His voice was a whisper, and he traced the edge of a bandage over Jack’s forehead. Must have had a head injury. “Jack, you…”

He swallowed. “You brought a goddamn apartment building down on yourself. I had to  _ dig you out _ of the rubble.” Gabriel’s voice broke and the edges of his form wavered dangerously. “Everyone thought you were dead.”

Jack furrowed his brow. He... 

_ Fire and smoke everywhere. The building was crashing around his ears and he cursed, glancing up to make sure he wasn’t going to get crushed. He remembered the exit to his left, past an empty room- _

_ Not so empty. A little boy was screaming, arm trapped under a piece or rubble. Jack skidded to a stop, mind churning. He could lift it, but could he get the kid and himself out before- _

_Another crash of masonry to his right and he lept into the room. His choice was made for him. “Stop crying!”_ _he barked, grabbing the concrete. “When I lift it, pull!” The child whimpered, staring up, through his visor. The fear there cut straight to Jack’s heart. “I’m going to lift it, but I can’t hold it for long. Three, two, one-”_

_ His back protested as he heaved the chunk upwards, the boy flying back as he pulled his arm out. Jack dropped it with a crash, hanging on to the kid’s arm. He dragged him towards the exit to hear another, louder rumble. Cracks shot across the floor, parts of it buckling, and Jack made a decision. _

_ The boy landed on the cement with a yelp, staring up at Jack. _

_ Who was on the other side of the collapsing floor, having thrown him across. _

_ “GET OUT!” he roared, flinging an arm towards the door. The kid gave him a terrified look, scrambling to his feet and squeezing through the nearly blocked door frame. As soon as he was gone, Jack examined any possible exits. No windows, he couldn’t get across now, he had been backing up since the floor had shaken and the door was solidly blocked, even if he could jump the gap. _

_ He was trapped. _

_ Jack took a deep breath, letting it out as the ceiling finally gave. _

_ At least Gabriel would mourn him. _

 *

_ Was he dead? He felt… different. It took Jack a moment for what he was looking at to sink in. _

_ Half of his body was crushed under three floors worth of rebar. A girder had spared his head, bent under the weight it was carrying to make this small cavity. Jack was dead, very much so. He crouched by his body, examining the light that formed his palms. A projection? He doubted he was actually illuminating the space. Blue glistened over black, and Jack felt sick.  _

_ He could feel the tug of something pulling on his soul, trying to whisk it away. Gabriel had talked about souls, once. They couldn’t stay long after they died or they would fade and fall apart without a body to sustain them. _

_ Jack was nothing if not stubborn. Literally, in this case. He steeled himself against the tug, feeling bits of himself break away slowly. _

_ He wanted to see Gabriel again before Death took him. _

_ An agonizing sound tore through the rubble, that shook Jack’s resolve. Gabriel was screaming. He was screaming because Jack was dead, gone, past his reach. If only he knew. Jack called out to him, a weak “Gabriel!” echoing in the confined space, but the cries didn’t stop for a long time. When they eventually faltered, Jack felt his heart splinter into little bits. He should let go now. _

_ Nothing happened. The tug was gone. The enormity of what he had done hit him. He was trapped here. _

_ Black smoke poured through the cracks in the rubble, congealing into Gabriel’s kneeling form. He gave a choked cry at the sight of Jack’s broken body, reaching out to touch him before yanking his hand back as the nanites scraped his skin away. Jack cried out, reaching for his lover’s shoulder. _

_ He stiffened, turning with a swirl of black. Jack cupped his face in both trembling hands, watching realization dawn in his eyes. Tears ran down his shifting cheeks, and he pulled Jack close. _

**_“I won’t let you die, Jack.”_ ** _ Gabriel was nearly whispering as shadows clogged the air. Under his touch, Jack’s world shifted, compacting and expanding at the same time, and he realized he was now the orb of light Gabriel had plucked from his chest so many times before. _

_ Shadows wrapped around him, their familiar touch turning painful as they pierced the shards that lay inside him, filling the cracks death had left upon his soul. Jack fluttered against the wraith’s palms, begging for the pain to stop. In an instant, there was blessed peace. Jack felt the world slowly slip away from him as Gabriel brought him close, cradling him inside his own chest next to his heart and soul. _

The memory shifted, no longer his own, but Gabriel’s.

_ He was standing upon the rubble, Jack’s limp body in his arms. Angela was at his side, sobbing. Cold fury and grief burned in his chest, fueling him as he poured every ounce of himself into keeping the fragile, guttering blue within him alive. He bent down to be at Angela’s eye level. _

_ “He’s not dead yet, can you resuscitate him?” The woman froze, staring at him. _

_ “Gabriel, even if we bring his body back there’s no way of knowing what’s happened to his mind, he could never-” _

_ “For Jack.” _

_ Angela swallowed. “For Jack.” _

 *

_ He was standing at Jack’s bedside, watching his chest rise and fall. It was wrong, too mechanical as Angela’s tech pieced his body back together. He pressed a hand to his heart.  _ **_Soon, Jack._ ** _ He wouldn’t let him slip away a second time. _

 *

_ Angela was protesting beside him. She didn’t want Gabriel’s nanites to interfere with her work, she said. He silenced her with a glare. “He’ll be fine.” _

_ “You don't know that! You don’t even know if he’ll wake up!” _

_ Gabriel was tired of this. Plucking Jack’s battered, slumbering soul from his chest he growled, “He  _ **_will_ ** _.” _

_ Angela stared at the light in his palm. “That’s-” _

_ “His soul. I’m going to put it back  _ **_inside_ ** _ him now, so he can  _ **_wake up._ ** _ ” Angela backed up as Gabriel leaned over Jack, letting the dull blue webbed with inky black and rich crimson slip.from his fingers and vanish into his chest. _

***

Jack came back to himself with a gasp. Gabriel was crouched over him, looking at him with terrified eyes. “Jack  _ please _ , say something.”

“I did die.”

Gabriel sucked in a breath, staring at him. “I died and you took my soul and put it back inside me.”

The wraith let out a weak laugh. “That’s the gist of it, yes."

“You put my soul back together, like one of those pots. The ones where they mend the cracks with gold?” Jack watched Gabriel squirm.

“I don’t know if I would call it  _ gold- _ ” Jack lunged forwards, feeling something protest inside him as he grasped Gabriel’s face and kissed him,  _ hard.  _ Shadows swept around him, seeping through his skin to find their way to his broken, battered core.  _ I love you. I love you so. _ Jack pushed the words into them, feeling Gabriel shudder against him at the brush of his thoughts.

“ _ Jack…” _ Gabriel sighed against his lips, making a broken noise as he pulled away.

“I wasn’t asleep for just two days, was I?”

“You were. You’re apparently almost completely recovered- well, enough that Angie decided I could try and help.” Cold tendrils slipped through his skin, dissolving through his tissue to piece it together bit by bit. Jack hissed at the sensation, feeling Gabriel rumble wetly in his lungs.

“My body’s not my own, my soul is not my own now, anymore.” Jack pressed his fingers to where his soul shone behind his ribs. “Is anything mine?”

Gabriel kissed him softly. “I am. I’ll always be yours, Jack.”

Jack clutched at him, feeling him spiral through his soul. Angela be damned, dead men have no rules.


End file.
